Kaptain hans wolf, second patrol, U-42

[Kaptain Hans Wolf]

after my first patrol, i wasnt too happy with the performance of the type ii, so i requested a transfer to the flotilla at kiel. great news, i am now sailing on a type vii b U-boat, U-45. BE 93 was our patrol square for this patrol, close to the coast of france. two ways to get there, head north around scapa flow, then head south along the west coast of britan, or, head south and go through the dover straight. i had heard bad stories about the dover straight, being filled with destroyers, so i opted to head north and go right around britan.

we left port on the 20th of september, 1939. we plotted to go north along the coast of norway, hoping to come across a lone merchant or two, however the only shipping we encounterd along the norweigin coast was neutral. we headed west, and rounded north of scapa flow. we started to head south along the west coast of england, when we encounterd our first ship during a hydrophone check.

we trailed her for some time, and identified her as a c2 cargo. we launched a two torpedo spread to ensure a hit, wasted 1 good torpedo, as the first hit destroyed her, barely got a chance to get a look at her before she started going under.

we surfaced to recharge our batteries, and to bring in a torpedo from the external casing to the forwared reserves. in the middle of this process we were attacked by a pair of planes, didint bother to try and shoot them down, i dived straight away and stayed under for some time.

when we surfaced, we moved the torpedo, and headed for our patrol square. we were about three grid squares north of our patrol square when we had our next encounter. another c2 cargo, detected during a hydrophone check, good thing we conduct them regularly. we were in good position to make an attack, i fired off tubes 1 and 2. first torpedo was a dud, wich ofcourse made me rather angry. second torpedo had a clean hit, but the c2 cargo shrugged it off and kept going. i fired tube number 3, another hit, yet she still kept going. tube four was fired, and hit cleanly. this time she stopped dead, a stationary target. with all of my forwared topedos fired, i turned round to deliver the final blow by way of my stern tube. deck gunning her would have been better but rough seas didint allow me that benefit. stern tubes torpedo hit dead on in the middle, breaking her in two. a very stubborn ship to go down i can tell you. we surfaced to move the torpedo in the rear external casing to the rear stores, whilst reloading our front tubes.

we headed for our patrol zone, but about an hour later we happend apon another c2 cargo. she couldent see us in the darkness, so we made a surface attack. i fired tube 1, the eel hit cleanly, and she sunk rapidly. when we finally arrived at our patrol square, we had nearly used all our torpedos. we patroled here for 24 hours, then i made the decision to head for home, guessing we would use up our last topedos on the way home, however on the long slog back to kiel, we did not encounter a single merchant.

all in all a pretty good patrol, and a great morale booster for the crew.

patrol results: 3 merchants sunk, for a total of 19,352 tons.

[Hanomag]

Herr Kaluen,

Congrats and welcome aboard!!!

[nikbear]

A good shakedown patrol in your new TypeVII Herr Wolfbest of luck and good hunting for the future patrols

[TomcatMVD]

Congratulations Herr Kaleun! Britain will soon shudder at the sound of your name

[Kaptain Hans Wolf]

danke

[Brag]

Excellent patrol, Herr Kaleun. You are a great asset to the U-Boot Waffe. Welcome home.

Drinks are on you :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: